Toronto Arts Council Board of Directors

2009-2010 Directors

John D. McKellar, C.M., Q.C., Chair Lawyer with the firm WeirFoulds LLP. Mr. McKellar is known for the many performing artists and arts organizations he has advised, counselled and supported. He is Vice-Chairman of the Ontario Arts Foundation and the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund, Chairman of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, an advisor to the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, and a board member of the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, Tarragon Theatre, Off-Centre Music Salon, The Glenn Gould Foundation and Fundamentally Film Inc. He has, alone or with others, produced shows at ArtWord Theatre, Blyth Centre for the Arts, the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts, the Princess of Wales Theatre, the Wintergarden Theatre, the National Arts Centre, The Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Kennedy Centre in Washington and has several other theatrical projects now in development. He is a past president of the Arts and Letters Club of Toronto and a past member of the Canada Council for the Arts Board of Directors.

Karen Tisch, President Long-time film programmer and cultural worker, Karen is past Executive Director of Ashkenaz Foundation. Other past positions include Managing Director of the Hot Docs Festival, Grants Officer at the Canada Council for the Arts and Toronto Arts Council, Programming Director of the Images Festival of Independent Film and Video and President of A Space Gallery. Karen is a graduate of the National Ballet School of Canada and the Ontario College of Art and Design and has worked as a film critic (radio) and arts consultant.

Don Moffat, FRAIC, RCA, Past President Architect. Principal, Cannon Design. Academician of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art. Former member of Hamilton Public Art Commission. Past chairman of Etobicoke Municipal Arts Commission. Former president of Etobicoke Community Foundation. Board member, Toronto Arts Council Foundation.

Jini Stolk, Vice-President Founding Executive Director of Creative Trust, Jini is an acknowledged leader in the arts and culture community with senior management experience in a range of producing and membership organizations. Previous positions include: Managing Director of Toronto Dance Theatre, Executive Director of Toronto Theatre Alliance, Associate Director of the Association of Canadian Publishers and General Manager of Open Studio. She continues her involvement in many community and cultural advocacy activities and is President of the Board of Hum dance theatre and a director of the 215 Centre for Social Innovation. She previously served as President of Toronto Artscape and Six Stages Theatre Festival.

Mark Opashinov, Secretary Lawyer. Partner, McMillan LLP. Focus of practice is corporate/commercial and competition law. Mark writes widely and speaks extensively in his field and has a long list of publishing credits. He has a professional and personal interest in the arts and, in addition to advising the Framework Foundation volunteer art auction, collects art himself. Mark also has an interest in human rights issues and is Secretary and Past President, Macedonian Human Rights Movement of Canada.

Randal Levine, Treasurer Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of finance and management experience. Randy has held a variety of senior financial management positions and is currently the CFO of Vector Aerospace, a TSX listed company. He has experience in all aspects of treasury and finance. He has served on a number of Boards including not-for-profit and charitable organizations.

Curtis Barlow CEO of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. Curtis Barlow has held leadership positions in the arts and government throughout his career. Prior to joining the ICC, he was Deputy Secretary (Policy, Program and Protocol) to the Governor General of Canada, with responsibility for the Governor General’s domestic and foreign policy program, as well as constitutional issues. Past positions include Director of the International Arts Promotion program at the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT), CEO of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Cultural Counsellor in both London and Washington with DFAIT, and Executive Director of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres.

Diana Bennett Chair, Toronto Arts Foundation Board of Directors. Visual artist, educator, senior executive. Owner of Zephyr Studios, a studio that designs, develops, and exhibits works of art. Past positions include Managing Director of Corporate Affairs, Marketing and Development at TVOntario, Executive Director, Zoological Society of Metro Toronto, and 15 years with the North York Board of Education as a teacher, department head and principal. Member, Canadian Foundation for Investor Education Board of Directors, Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Advisory Board, University College Principal’s Advisory Committee. Past member, Toronto Stock Exchange Board of Directors.

Martha Burns One of Canada’s most distinguished stage and television actresses. She has performed leading roles at the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, and at theatres across the country. Winner of the 2005 Barbara Hamilton Award for “excellence and professionalism in the performing arts”, she has also received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for her work in ‘Trafford Tanzi’ and ‘The Miracle Worker’ and been nominated for three more. Martha is the recipient of a Genie Award for her work in Rhombus Media’s production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night and a double Gemini winner for Best Actress for her leading role, Ellen Fanshaw, in three seasons of Slings and Arrows. Most recently she was Mary Miller in The Trojan Horse, written by and starring her husband Paul Gross. Martha has just completed the short film How are You? which she wrote and directed with Susan Coyne and executive produced.

Brian Current One of North America's leading young composers, Brian Current is a 2005 Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of the 2003 Barlow Prize. His music, renowned for its energy, wit and daring bravado, has been performed across North America and abroad by the American Composers Orchestra (Carnegie Hall), the Esprit Orchestra, the Oakland Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony, the Warsaw National Philharmonic, the Deagu Ensemble (Korea), the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Gryphon Trio, the SIRIUS ensemble and others. He began his music studies at McGill University and later completed his Ph.D. in composition at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was also active as a conductor. He has since been featured conducting his own music and other works with New Music Concerts, Soundstreams and the Esprit Orchestra’s New Waves Festival.

Melanie Fernandez Director of Community and Education Programs at Harbourfront Centre and Artistic Director of the summer festival season. She is responsible for community cultural development initiatives, the multidisciplinary festival activities, life long learning programs and volunteer services. Past positions include Community Arts Officer at the Ontario Arts Council and Head of Education at the Art Gallery of Ontario. She currently teaches a course in community arts at the Ontario College of Art and Design and has written extensively in the areas of cultural diversity and cultural production, aboriginal cultural production and community arts. Melanie has served on numerous Boards and advisory committees including: Cultural Pluralism in the Arts (University of Toronto), Community Arts Ontario, A Space Gallery, Art Starts Neighbourhood Cultural Centre, the Canadian Commission of UNESCO, and Canada Council for the Arts Racial Equity Committee.

Matt Galloway has been working at CBC Radio for more than 10 years. He has hosted CBC Radio programs The Current, Sounds Like Canada, Metro Morning, The Arts Today, Global Village, Music and Company, OnStage and many others. He also anchored CBC Radio's coverage of the 2007 FIFA Under 20 World Cup of Soccer. In 2008, he hosted CBC Radio’s coverage of the Summer Olympics live from Beijing, mixing breaking sports results with insightful looks into the changing face of Chinese culture. Since 2004, he has been the host of Here & Now, the drive-home program on CBC Radio One 99.1 FM in Toronto, moving from interviews with mayors, Premiers and other newsmakers of the day to arts, sports, culture and food. He’s also the Friday host of Metro Morning. Matt is a member of the Stop Community Food Centre Board of Directors.

Kamala-Jean Gopie, O. Ont Educator, community leader. Numerous awards have acknowledged her work organizing and fundraising for community organizations. Board of Trustees, United Way of Greater Toronto; Board of Governors, Roy Thomson Hall & Massey Hall Corporation. Past President, Urban Alliance on Race Relations. Past Member: National Ballet of Canada Board of Directors; Harbourfront Corporation Board of Directors; Governing Council, University of Toronto; Advisory Council, School of Women's Studies, York University. Member: Immigration and Refugee Board.

Danis Goulet Artistic Director of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Danis is Metis, originally from northern Saskatchewan. She brings with her significant experience in film and media arts. Her short film, Spin, has screened at several festivals, including the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and her latest short, Divided by Zero, premiered in 2006 at the Message Sticks Film Festival at Australia’s Sydney Opera House. Danis has been affiliated with various film and new media organizations over the years, including V tape, Nelvana and the Aboriginal Youth Career Fair. Currently she is a member of the Images Film Festival Board of Directors, Worldwide Short Film Festival Programming Committee, and Planet IndigenUS Festival Advisory Committee.

Ruth Howard Artist who creates large-scale arts and theatre projects with urban communities. She is the Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre, a company she founded in 2001. Howard worked for many years as a professional theatre designer, as well as with various forms of popular and participatory arts and theatre. She designed community plays in Blyth, Ontario; Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan; Enderby, British Columbia; and Torbay, England and Manchester, England. Following the success of these projects, Howard founded Jumblies Theatre to support what had evolved as an approach of establishing multi-year residencies in urban communities leading to large-scale, participatory, performance pieces.

Councillor Norm Kelly City Councillor for Ward 40, Scarborough Agincourt. City appointment to TAC Board of Directors.

Moynan King is a director, writer, dramatug, actor, curator and performance artist. Moynan’s solo and collaborative performance pieces have been presented across Canada and the US. As an actor, Moynan has over fifty professional film, theatre and TV credits and is a member of CAEA and ACTRA. She was dramaturg for the Toronto Women’s Caucus of the Playwrights Guild of Canada from 2001 to 2006 and Associate Artist at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre from 2004 to 2009. Moynan is the director of Hysteria: A Festival of Women, Canada’s largest multidisciplinary festival of work by women, and was curator of the Rhubarb! Festival of New Plays from 2003 to 2005. She has been a guest lecturer at Guelph University, York University, Glendon College and the University of Wisconsin and is currently working on her MA at University of Toronto Centre for Study of Drama.

Alice Klein Editor/CEO and co-founder/owner of NOW magazine, Alice combines a strikingly creative approach to problem solving with a hard-nosed and highly detailed financial appreciation of publishing. She credits her first generation immigrant roots for the ability to do a lot with very little that has been fundamental to NOW's success from the very beginning. Her lifelong passion for social change and her connection to the cultural vanguard are a result of early experiences. In 2006, she was named one of the 100 Graduates who shaped the Century by the University of Toronto Alumnae Association. Facing the challenges of being an employer and a mother of two has led Alice to broaden her passion for social change to include the exploration of inner peace. As a writer for the paper, she continues to draw on her experience in politics, business and psychology to focus on issues related to archetypal evolution and the global economy.

Linda R. Lewis Professor Emeritus, Ryerson University. Over her 40 years of working at Ryerson, she lectured in design, art history and film theory. She was Chair of the School of Fashion and Director of the Film Studies program. She has written extensively about design and has been recognized by the community for her design advocacy. She was the founding president of the Design Exchange and remains involved with that organization as a member of the Collection Committee. In May 2009, she was appointed a leader of the National Design Policy Committee. This initiative, led by Design Exchange in partnership with associations, universities and organizations across Canada, seeks to establish a formal design policy at the federal government level.

Natalie Lue Director of Operations & Theatres for Toronto International Film Festival Group. As part of the senior management team, she contributes to the organizational development of TIFFG and participates in the design development and operational planning for their new building, the Bell Lightbox. Prior to joining TIFFG, Natalie was Director of Planning at Harbourfront Centre and played a leadership role in the development, management and implementation of long term strategic planning for major organizational and program initiatives.

Councillor Pam McConnell City Councillor for Ward 28, Toronto Centre-Rosedale. City appointment to TAC Board of Directors.

Gregory Oh Pianist with graduate degrees from both University of Toronto and University of Michigan. He is Artistic Director of new music ensemble Toca Loca, plays with The Lollipop People, teaches at the University of Toronto and performs with a wide variety of ensembles across Canada.

Kerri Sakamoto A writer of fiction, film scripts and visual-arts criticism, her first novel, The Electrical Field, was a finalist for a slew of awards and won the 1999 Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book and the Canada-Japan Literary Award. In 1999 she spent three months working on her second novel in Japan as a guest of The Japan Foundation and One Hundred Million Hearts was published by Knopf Canada in 2003. With Helen Lee, she co-edited an anthology of writings on video artist Richard Fung Like Mangoes In July (Insomniac Press, 2002). Kerri is an advisor for Gendai Gallery, Nisei Legacy Project and Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. She is also a member of PEN Canada and Writers’ Union of Canada.

Gerry Trentham Artist and educator. He is the founder and Artistic Director of pounds per square inch performance, a company dedicated to fostering environments that encourage and enhance artistic endeavour. His major performance work integrates live dance, theatre and music with video design. Mr. Trentham’s writing, choreography and direction have developed to include the creation of over 25 original works for the stage, including the epic Cathedral. His most recent work, Autobiography: Chapters One through Five, an international multi-media collaboration, was produced at Premiere Dance Theatre and received national critical acclaim. He has taught at York University in both graduate and undergraduate theatre programs and is presently Assistant Professor in the Performing Arts Department at SUNY Buffalo State where he is Head of Voice and Movement.

Priscila Uppal, Ph.D. Poet, writer and York University professor (Department of English and Faculty of Graduate Studies). Her 2006 poetry book Ontological Necessities was short-listed for the Griffin Prize for Excellence in Poetry, one of the largest and most prestigious poetry prizes in the world. Some of her published works include: Successful Tragedies: Selected Poems 1998-2010 (Bloodaxe Books, United Kingdom, Forthcoming), To Whom It May Concern: A Novel (Doubleday Canada, forthcoming in 2009), Holocaust Dreams (2005), The Divine Economy of Salvation, novel (Doubleday Canada, 2002), Pretending to Die, poetry (Exile Editions Canada, 2001, short-listed for ReLit Award), Confessions of a Fertility Expert, poetry (Exile Editions Canada, 1999).

John Van Burek Founder and Artistic Director of Pleiades Theatre, John Van Burek has been a professional theatre artist for thirty-five years. He has directed over 100 plays, workshops, operas and special events and translated over 40. He was the founding Artistic Director of Théâtre français de Toronto, which he ran for close to twenty years. Through his translations, often in partnership with the late Bill Glassco, he introduced the work of Michel Tremblay, one of Canada’s preeminent playwrights, to the English-speaking world. In addition, he has translated works by Gratien Gélinas, Goldoni, Suzanne Lebeau, Marivaux and Molière. He is currently working on a translation of Albert Camus’ Les Justes. He has received many awards and distinctions, including the Toronto Drama Bench Award for Distinguished Contribution to Canadian Theatre, the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and most recently, he was given the prestigious Silver Ticket Award by the Toronto Association of Performing Arts.

Councillor Adam Vaugan City Councillor for Ward 20, Trinity Spadina. City appointment to TAC Board of Directors.

Jessica Wyman Writer, curator, and art historian. Jessica Wyman teaches in the Faculty of Liberal Studies, Ontario College of Art and Design. She has worked with artist-run organizations YYZ Artists’ Outlet and Fuse magazine, with Active 18 Association, and has curated numerous exhibitions for commercial and artist-run galleries. Her writing about contemporary art, and most recently about art history and performativity, has appeared in magazines and journals across North America and in Europe, and her three-volume edited book, Pro Forma: language/text/visual art was published in fall 2007. Wyman received the 2004 Untitled Art Awards Emerging Curator Award and was shortlisted that year in the category of Best Art Writing.

Arts Advisory Panel

Margaret Atwood ● Atom Egoyan ● Mallory Gilbert ● Norman Jewison ● Molly Johnson ● Karen Kain ● David Mirvish ● Sam Sniderman ● Joyce Zemans